Beech Grove incident shows growth in teen armed robberies

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BEECH GROVE, Ind. -- A security guard shot and killed a man and boy who attempted to rob him at gunpoint.

Police say the 14-year-old was the one carrying the gun.

“I’m completely heartbroken for the family of the juvenile,” says Detective Captain Robert Mercuri with the Beech Grove Police Department. “Fourteen years old. I think that says it all.”

Beech Grove officers see this shooting as part of a larger trend area police are seeing of young people using dangerous weapons.

“In this past year, this is at least the fourth or fifth armed juvenile robbery that I know about in my little world here in Marion County, the southeast side,” said Mercuri.

Police say it’s disappointing, but no longer shocking, to see a teen or preteen with a loaded gun.

This time, the 14-year-old pulled a gun on two security guards—a mother and son duo—outside Grove Sports Bar and demanded they hand over everything they had.

When the security guards told him they only had cell phones, he demanded those. That’s when the 23-year-old security guard fired.

The man and boy died at the scene.

“It’s sad and it makes you wonder if there’s a criminal element out there that’s not only recruiting young, but is telling them, ‘Hey, you use the gun because it’s not as big a deal if you use it than I.’”

Beech grove Mayor Dennis Buckley says as a society, this incident should make people question how someone so young was already tied up in the criminal life.

“I’m very disheartened with society,” said Buckley. “We could do a lot better. Fourteen-year-old kids should be home this was one o’clock in the morning.”

Police are still trying to figure out how the teen and Easley knew each other.

As for the security guards, Mayor Buckley says he doesn’t expect they’ll face any charges.